Topiary is about giving lovely and fabulous shapes to the plants, trees, and shrubs. Some of the common shapes are cones, spirals, tiers, balls, and shapes of other natural objects.

If you want to have topiaries in your garden then it would be few simple steps and techniques that you can follow. Topiaries in your garden would definitely add to its beauty and your friends would admire your taste of designing and decorating the landscape of your garden.

It requires little more patience, perseverance, and practice to convert plants and shrubs in to lovely topiaries. Therefore doing it yourself requires a clear determination first.

You need to select the most suitable plants that could easily be converted in to topiaries. Such plants must have a short internodes space between the leaves, hardiness, and an even rate of growth. Better select slow growing plants for this purpose as they are comparatively easier to manage and live long. Faster growing plants could give an instantaneous result but would need more frequent pruning and would not last long also.

Some of the most suitable plants include “Japanese Box”,” Lilly Pillies”"Bay Tree”, and “Ficus”. All these plants have suitable speed of growth, lovely foliage colours, and look great when converted in to topiaries.

If you are looking for a plant to give it a shape of tall cones or long spirals then “Juniperus Spartan” is one of the most suitable. Similarly, “Juniperus Keteleeri” would be great for pruning in to clouds shapes. The former is a slow growing hardy plant while later one is faster and hardy variety.

One of the classic shapes that people generally prefer to carve out is a “ball on a stick”. A “Bay Tree” can easily be converted in to this shape. But you should select the plant very carefully. You should preferably be choosing a straight leader growing upwards up to a desired height. It must leave foliage on initially as it would strengthen the stem.

When selecting a suitable “Juniperus” or “Spartan” conifer plant in order to carve it out in large spirals you must ensure that the plant is healthy and strong enough. It should also have a leader with even foliage all the way around.

“Gardenia” is one of the most popular and favourable choice among many gardeners around the world. This lovely plant gives out a lovely fragrance and can easily be converted in to a standard. A straight leader plant would be best for topiary purposes. Remove all other foliages and put a stake in to the desired height. Then pinch the top at the height you think is sufficient. You can maintain a regular tripping and pinching schedule thereafter.

Position of the plant in a pot is really important while shaping your topiary. The plant must be centred in the pot. Also ensure that the topiary is made directly over the trunk. It will help you avoid looking lopsided when finished with topiary work.

There three basic fundamentals of topiary and you must ensure that these are cared well. Regular pruning, good nutrition, and regular watering are these key factors that will ensure your topiaries look great for a longer time. It is better if you supply liquid foods to the plants instead of controlled release fertilizers. This you can do when the climatic conditions are not favourable. In normal conditions you may also use slow release fertilizers and try to supplement it with little liquid seaweeds also.

Sunlight and wind are two other extremely critical factors and you need to be really careful with these natural ingredients. Topiaries require plenty of direct sunlight and you must ensure this for longer hours. If you have problems with this then ensure providing equal amount and duration of strong indirect light. Avoid direct, strong, and much wind because it will blow the branches of topiaries out of shape.

Just learn these techniques and keep on practicing with different shapes and designs and you will certainly carve out great lovely topiaries in your garden soon.

Topiary Pictures

Topiary Videos

Creating a Beautiful Apple Topiary	Topiary Dance from Edward Scissorhands
Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee: Italian Topiary	Ivy Topiary

Topiary Question & Answers

Topiary Question: 1

How do I start doing topiary on my garden hedge?

I have a normal thick hedge and I wnt to make it into something more intersting. Do I snip it into the shape I want and start for the leaves to grow back, or is it a gradual thing?

Answer: 1.
Measure the area,draw a picture of what you want to scale,and cut into hedge following drawing.Always undercut slightly and the keep snipping back to right final cut.Overcutting means you have to wait for it to grow back.You can cut into dry wood,it will grow leaves from anywhere.
Someone in west hampstead spent 2 years creating a loch ness monster and a yob cut it's head off for a laugh
Answer: 2.
it is useful to decide on the shape you wish, then make a 'form' from wire or cane. Insert the form in the area you wish to sculpt and then trim the hedge back inside the form. Initially you may have to cut quite brutally, but after the leaves and fine twigs start taking up the shape, sheep shears are the best for fine trimming. To get a good result you may have to wait for up to 3 years (depends on the 'sculpture' you building). Good luck and have patience

Topiary Question: 2

topiaries with lights?

Would like to find topiaries for my wedding reception entrance. They are sooooooooo expensive. Any ideas?

Answer: 1.
Believe it or not, this is something you can rent! Call your local events rental company. They'll either have them on site or can direct you to the right company. They will also have tables, chairs, linens, etc! If you need help with co-ordinating your wedding or reception, they can usually help with that, too! Congrats!!! Have a great wedding!!!!

Topiary Question: 3

Topiary frames how to make your own?

Can anyone tell me where there is a site on how to build a topiary wire frame of a fox need photos especially and the whole 9 yards.Site that teach you how to build 3d animals and etc. is what I'm looking for. Want to build them myself.Bet you can't find a good site or even a bad site!HelpPlease include the site with your answers.Thanks

Answer: 1.
Topiary Joe has a ask and expert section.

The Complete Book of Topiary, authors are Gallup and Reich
Includes build your own instructions.
Might find plans at the library.

I do out door sculpture however not with plants

Topiary Question: 4

Ideas of how to make a fake heart shaped topiary?

My fiance and I are getting married in October and we're doing kind of a Tim Burton theme. We've been looking for a heart shaped topiary, we want a rather large one. We were thinking about buying styrofoam blocks. I've seen them at stores. They're maybe 2 feet long and about 3 inch wide. We were going to cut and glue them together to form the heart in the size we want. Then glue artificial ivy of some sort all over it. Not sure how well it will work, we're going to try it. Does anyone have any other ideas?Figured I'd add a few more details. We're getting married in a park so it needs to be able to be moved easily.We called florists and greenery's around town and have been searching online for a form and nothing they have is large enough. We were given the idea of finding large styrofoam blocks used to insulation instead of gluing lots of blocks together. Where could we find these?Also we were given the idea of gluing fake or dried moss to it instead of artifical ivy. We searched and found these squares of artificial moss but they come in 1 ft. squares. If we use those who will be cover up the cracks, I'm thinking they'll be noticable.Also, any idea of how to make it more 3 dimensional or rounded instead of flat. My fiance suggested turning it into a large paper mache project almost and building up on it. Any other ideas?And as a pictorial reference. This is what we're going for:http://www.arnadal.no/film/images/edward...Only instead of a hand we want a heart.

Answer: 1.
Check your local craft stores, you can usually find grape vine wreaths in a heart shape, and it would give you a base to cover with something nice. The other option is to find a large sheet piece of styrofoam...like they use for insulation and cut out what you need then cover it, that would be easier than sticking blocks together.

Topiary Question: 5

Ideas of how to make a fake heart shaped topiary?

My fiance and I are getting married in October and we're doing kind of a Tim Burton theme. We've been looking for a heart shaped topiary, we want a rather large one. We were thinking about buying styrofoam blocks. I've seen them at stores. They're maybe 2 feet long and about 3 inch wide. We were going to cut and glue them together to form the heart in the size we want. Then glue artificial ivy of some sort all over it. Not sure how well it will work, we're going to try it. Does anyone have any other ideas?Figured I'd add a few more details. We're getting married in a park so it needs to be able to be moved easily.We called florists and greenery's around town and have been searching online for a form and nothing they have is large enough. We were given the idea of finding large styrofoam blocks used to insulation instead of gluing lots of blocks together. Where could we find these?Also we were given the idea of gluing fake or dried moss to it instead of artifical ivy. We searched and found these squares of artificial moss but they come in 1 ft. squares. If we use those who will be cover up the cracks, I'm thinking they'll be noticable.Also, any idea of how to make it more 3 dimensional or rounded instead of flat. My fiance suggested turning it into a large paper mache project almost and building up on it. Any other ideas?And as a pictorial reference. This is what we're going for:http://www.arnadal.no/film/images/edward...Only instead of a hand we want a heart. We like the idea of doing the smaller ones and may do that of we can't figure out the big one. And also the wire greenery. We'll look at those as well. We still have awhile to figure this out..

Answer: 1.
Your foam base is a good start, instead of glueing the ivy over it though, I would recommend spending a little extra money to get wire based greenery that you insert into the foam. For the size that you are mentioning, you will probably need a lot, but it will look much better then foam and glue.

The other option is to go with the real thing, contact your local nursery's and garden shops to find out it they either have what you are looking for or can suggest a good dense bush that you can shape using some hand sheers or an electric hedge trimmer (rentable from most places).

another idea, is instead of doing one really big one, do little ones on the tables at your reception. They sell the foam hearts already shaped, use thick twigs to stand them up in small planting containers filled with candy, bird seed or rocks. And then cover the foam hearts with the wire greenery of your choice.

Good luck.
Answer: 2.
I'd give the 10 to Xena, and follow her suggestions about wire based, already assembled foliage, found at places like Michaels, or Jo Ann Fabrics.

I confess I have no clue what a Tim Burton theme is but have worked artifial foliage with Disney, and in theater for many years. You might find something that includes Ivy, and mini rose vines, adding color to the piece.

I also like the idea of REAL, and you can probably find someone to craft a real one in ivy, or some such. Growing your own, might be tedious?

Steven Wolf